Canadian Retail Sales Rise 0.9% in April

Canadian Retail Sales Rise 0.9% in April

Canadian consumer spending rose in April for the first time in five months, following a surge in gas prices.

Retail sales climbed 0.9 percent to $44.28 billion in April, from a plunge of 0.8 percent in March, the Statistics Canada retail report showed on Wednesday.

According to Statistics Canada, the overall increase was as a result of a gain in sales at gasoline stations which climbed 6.0 percent due to higher prices at the pump.

But when the higher cost of gas was factored out, the overall volume of sales in April remained relatively flat with just 0.1 percent increment.

Earlier in the month, the Bank of Canada said it is expecting a weak second quarter, partly because of disruptions caused by wildfires in Alberta.

“While much of this weakness promises to be transitory, the bigger uncertainty is the ability of the economy to rebound in the third quarter if the global backdrop remains precarious,” said David Tulk, a TD Securities economist.